Whenever our eyes caught for the briefest of moments, he always looked away and never turned back. I was too afraid to approach his group without getting death glares and I never found him loitering around school by himself. I never saw much of Caine either.
As the days rolled by and Saturday came, it was time for Eve’s baby shower. Our parents hadn’t come home yet. They were supposed to arrive Friday night but their flight got delayed so they’d be arriving in the afternoon, hopefully in time to see Eve slice the cake.
It was good to be able to wear something that covered my shoulders. From wearing nothing but sleeveless shirts and jeans, it was good to finally have minimal exposure. Late Saturday morning was nice weather for winter. The sun was shining and there was hardly any breeze. Dressed in a knit sweater dress with a pair of boots, I was in charge of guarding the gift table, arranging the presents and directing people to the refreshments table.
Patrick and Eve were circling the crowd, greeting guests, laughing at pointless things and letting people rub Eve’s belly like it was a magic ball and it had the answers to all of life’s questions. At some point, she waddled over, cradling four mini quiches, and poked her nose into one of the gift bags. Literally.
She inhaled deeply, then straightened. “Do you think anyone bought me ham?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Eve, the point of your baby shower is to receive presents for your baby, not your stomach.”
“Someone could have bought a ham for my baby,” she replied, stuffing the crumbly pastry in her mouth.
I sighed and busied myself with stacking a few of the gifts to make room for the ones coming in. Eve must have noticed something was wrong because she placed the quiches down and reached over and squeezed my arm.
“Thanks for helping out, Nora,” she said, her touch warm and comforting. “You’ve been really down since the handcuffs got taken off.”
I smiled weakly. “Yeah,” I replied lamely.
Eve grinned mischievously. “Which is why I invited the Collins.”
I nearly choked on my breathing. “You invited the Collins,” I repeated.
Imagining June Collins at my sister’s baby shower was a nightmare: dressed in her shiny pumps and navy business suit, parading the place like a general, rather than a guest. I shuddered at the thought and started absentmindedly shifting a few gifts around the table. But then I thought of Ryder by her side, with his cool attitude and messy hair. My stomach flipped.
I wasn’t sure if I was happy or scared about the possibility.
Eve said nothing more as she picked up her food and walked away to a cluster of women who gushed and gossiped. Patrick was busy associating with a few of his friends who were mostly speaking in chuckles, grunts and sips of their beverages. Everyone seemed be having a good time.
As another guest handed me a perfectly wrapped cellophane gift, with a matching bow, a white taxi pulled up at the curb. And then, two walking tomatoes stepped out of the vehicle.
Those two walking tomatoes were my parents.
Dad was dressed in one of his awful, Hawaiian print shirts and wrapped around his hips was one of those horrible bum bags. He waved at us from the car, before walking towards the boot and pulling out the luggage. My mother, wearing one of her I’m-a-tourist T-shirts and wedge thongs took one look at us and came hurdling over.
Eve instantly left the group of girls and wobbled over to our mum. They exchanged an awkward hug, my sister’s belly bump getting in the way, but they didn’t seem affected. They still squeezed and laughed and gushed over how soon Eve was to giving birth. Then after their little moment of affection, Eve asked if Mum bought her a ham. It was a negative.
“Nora!” my mother screeched, arms open as she rushed past people and wrapped me up in a tight hug.
Circling my arms around her small frame, I squeezed tight. Inhaling the familiar scent of her citrus shampoo and body wash made me realise how much I had missed her. I lingered a little longer than necessary before finally breaking apart.
Mum brushed a piece of blonde hair away from my face and smiled at me. “I’ve been so worried about you.”
“Me?” I questioned.
“Yes. Your sister is so hormonal, being so close to her due date. And good God, what is this obsession with ham?”
I laughed. “Patrick has been the responsible one. He’s been taking care of us.”
Mum smiled knowingly. “Should have known. He’s a good man. Where is he anyway?”
She took my hand, squeezed it and then disappeared into the crowd to find him. As soon as she left, dad appeared, face red as he rolled the luggage up the driveway. I walked over to help and he caught my eye, grinning and letting go of the bags to greet me with an embrace. But loosening his grip on the handles of the baggage caused them to start rolling down the hill. Dad swiftly reached out just in time to catch one of them but the other was already on its way down the slope. Quickly, I raced after it and grabbed hold of it before it went tumbling down towards the road.
He grinned as I walked back up the driveway and slung his arm across my shoulders. “What would I do without you?”
“I don’t know,” I teased. “Hardly anything.”
He laughed and kissed the top of my head. Together, we made our way into the house, Dad talking about the extravagant prices of everything in California but how beautiful the beaches were. I listened to stories of adventures and got little snippets of historical information my parents discovered.
“What about you, kiddo?” Dad asked, running a hand through his thin, greying hair.
I thought back to Ryder. My parents had an adventure while they were gone, but so had I. Getting chained to Ryder, the kiss, the fire, getting a ride to the police station in the middle of the night, community service, the mystery of Caine’s cuts.
Instead, I said, “Oh, you know, the usual.”
~♥♥♥~
When the cake finally came out, the group erupted in excited whispers. This was the moment everyone was waiting for. The secret everyone was dying to know: the sex of Eve and Patrick’s baby. It was a massive looking cake, something that looked like it belonged in a wedding catalogue rather than a baby shower in the front garden.
It was three rectangular pieces of cake, piled upon each other to make a tower. Little grey pearls decorated the edges of the cake, along with cute little graphics outlined in white icing fit for an infant. There were images of a cradle, a bottle, a dummy and little booties too. Sprinkled over the entire design was a light dusting of silver powder. The cake was absolutely stunning.
“Before we cut the cake, we’d just like to thank everyone for coming today,” Patrick said, arms wrapped around his girlfriend. “We appreciate all the gifts and support we have received on the journey to raising our first child.”
“Oh! And if anyone bought me a ham, please see me when you get your slice of cake. I have an extra big piece for you.” Eve winked at the crowd and a few people chuckled.
But I don’t think they knew she was serious.
The crowd held their breath as Eve took the knife from the table and gently sunk it into the cake. Patrick stood behind her, arms around her stomach, fingers gently and absentmindedly stroking her bump. My sister took her time in cutting the cake, creating so much tension that the girl next to me was twitching in anticipation.
When she finally cut out a little section of the bottom slab of cake, she held it up on a little plastic plate. Inside the small casing of white fondant, grey pearls and swirls of icing was a light blue sponge.
Eve was having a baby boy.
The crowd cheered and a few of our closest friends and family ran up to congratulate Eve and Patrick. They shook hands, hugged and talked over this huge announcement. I stayed behind and watched, thinking about how happy they looked and decided that having a nephew would be my next new adventure.
Across the crowd, I saw a checked blue shirt over a graphic T-shirt and dark, messy hair. When the figure turned around, I saw his eyes. Ryd
er’s eyes, the palest of blue, like the colour of rare tinted diamond, glittering with glory. Quickly, I made my way through the crowd, pushing through guests and snaking my way through towards him.
But when I broke out into the clearing where I thought he was, he wasn’t there.
“Looking for someone?”
I turned and saw my mother standing there, watching me with curious, hazel eyes. I looked back to where I thought I saw Ryder and shook my head. Mum didn’t believe me, I could tell by the way she looked at me, but she said nothing. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and steered me back towards my sister.
“Congratulations,” I said, once we approached.
Eve reached out and squeezed my hand. “Thank you, Nora. For everything. You’ve always been here for me… for us.” She rubbed her belly and looked up at her boyfriend who kissed her nose. “So, as the first and only future aunt of our child, I think you should be one of the first to hear what we have decided for the name… Hammy.”
“H-Hammy?” I repeated, not sure that I heard it right.
My mother just stood there, staring at Eve in intense silence. “Like… Short for Hamish or Hamlet or…”
Eve just shook her head. “No. Just Hammy. Not short for anything. I mean, it’s perfect, isn’t it? My addiction to ham is just a sign that I should be naming my children after my cravings. Pregnancy is the new prophecy.”
A few of Eve’s friends joined us then and soon enough, my sister drifted off into their conversation. While she was engaged in her little interaction, Patrick turned to us.
“We are not naming our son Hammy. Don’t worry,” Patrick reassured us, eyes shifting towards Eve to make sure she wouldn’t overhear and get upset. “She’s just going through that really hormonal stage. I’m sure once we have the baby she’ll come to her senses and she won’t name our first child after food.”
“There are worse things he could be named after,” I pointed out.
Patrick cringed. “One day, I’ll tell my son the story about his mother wanting to name him after ham.”
We laughed.
Twenty Six
After a majority of the guests had gone and most of the mess was cleaned, I got a call from Officer Brandy about a community service shift. I had been assigned for a late afternoon hour of sorting donated clothes at the Church fund raiser. Since I didn’t exactly have a car, my transportation was again reliant on my parents. And because I had to tell them my exact location, I was forced to confess my run-in with the law to my dad. It wasn’t like he was going to accept the fact that I was going to spend my afternoon at Church. We weren’t exactly a very religious family.
“So, explain to me why you’re spending your afternoon at a Church,” Dad said. He turned and looked at me briefly. “You didn’t turn into one of those nuns, did you? Is that even legal at seventeen?”
“Dad, no,” I answered. “Because if you really want that kind of commitment at your age, try giving all that dedication to your studies in the HSC this year, yeah?” he babbled on.
“Dad,” I said, trying to interrupt.
“But on the other hand, my youngest daughter being a nun doesn’t sound too bad. Nuns aren’t allowed to, you know…get down with the dirty. Snake and the bush.Birds and the bees. Penetrated by-”
“Oh, God, Dad, please stop,” I quickly interjected, feeling completely disturbed and embarrassed at my dad’s use of the word ‘penetrated’.
He laughed at my reaction. “Just saying. I’m going to be a grandfather soon. It’s going all too quickly.” He smiled weakly. “Personally, I don’t think Eve is ready to have a baby. She wants to name her child after that hyperactive squirrel on Over the Hedge. Remember that movie?”
“I remember.” “Seems like only yesterday we all watched that as a family. Now you’re all graduating and having babies named Ham and…”
I looked at him. “You’re not going to go all Oprah on me, are you?” I teased.
Dad puffed out his chest. “Dads don’t cry.” He shot me a playful grin, then added, “Now, remind me about the church stuff.”
“Community service,” I answered. “Kind of got in trouble with the police.”
I sunk into my seat. It was supposed to be the casual teenager slouch that so many of us had mastered, but rather than nonchalance being the reason, it was embarrassment. I kept my eyes out the window and watched the houses fly by; roofs painted in neutral tones of creams, browns and greys.
Although any normal teenager would be worried about getting in trouble, I wasn’t. I was more afraid of the disappointment. Despite Eve’s seriously disturbing cravings and weird habits, she was a brilliant student. One of those girls that kept her grades up, was in the leadership team, played sports and socialised, all while keeping her hair absolutely perfect. She was the type of student that made others gape in awe, wondering how she could balance life so effortlessly, while the rest of the normal high school community was having trouble handing in homework on time and running out of excuses to why they miss the athletics carnival every year.
My sister had left a trail of memorable achievements, which, while I was happy for her, it also laid down a whole lot of expectations for me to follow in her footsteps. So far, the only legacy I had left for remembrance was being handcuffed to the all-star Ryder Collins. Someone, who was now avoiding me like Herpes.
“What kind of trouble did you and Mel get into?” Dad asked, after a brief pause.
It was funny how he thought I had dragged Mel into this. The only untamed thing about Mel was her hair and eating habits. Prior to Ryder, the wildest thing we had ever done was skip the first five minutes of first period on a serious hunt for a tampon. I mean, we were both twelve and Mel had just gotten her period and her mum is a total labelling freak so she wrote Mel’s name on every individual coloured tampon covering just in case she ‘lost them’. And one must have fallen out of her pocket on the rush to homeroom so we were on a treasure hunt for a missing tampon.
“Ryder Collins, actually.”
Dad frowned, almost like he was trying to remember who the hell Ryder Collins was. But when it finally clicked, he looked at me with a confused expression. “I thought you weren’t friends.”
“We aren’t,” I muttered, playing with my fingers. It was a true answer.
“Then?”
We were about a block from the church. We were so close, yet so far.
“Just the wrong place, wrong time, wrong people-”
“Nora, you’re not doing drugs or anything?” Dad asked, looking like he might have a heart attack.
“No!” I quickly assured him.
“Good,” he answered, pulling up at the curb.
Just as I was about to jump out of the car, he leaned in to the centre console and locked the doors. With my hand desperately tugging on the handle, as if it would just magically open if I repeatedly tried, I looked longingly at the stalls surrounding the church.
“Tell me exactly what happened, Nora Montgomery.”
I turned to face him and sighed. “Just some kids at school got into a fight on the beach one night after the street fair. I just happened to be around.”
Dad let out a low whistle. “What was the fight about?”
I looked sheepishly at the toe of my shoe and grumbled, “Me.” It was pathetic and sounded a lot more stupid out loud than in my head. “Not over me,” I quickly added. “Just about me.”
“What about you?” Dad could get the cop questioning going quite well.
I sighed. “Just a nasty comment that went around school.” I knew Dad was going to press further so I added, “Something not worth repeating. Ryder defended me. So did Caine.” Seeing his blank expression, I added, “Ryder’s friend.”
He examined the situation further and nodded, then unlocked the doors. He was letting this go way too easily, so I knew he was going to do more, but my part had been satisfied.
“I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
I climbed out of the car,
but before closing the door, I poked my head through and said, “Don’t do anything idiotic, Dad.”
He gave me a grin, ignoring my comment. “Have fun.”
~♥♥♥~
There were tonnes of clothes that had been donated. Piles of boxes covered the grassy area, from baby clothes to grandma clothes. So once I got assigned a table, I started unpacking boxes that were labelled: $10. I organised the clothes in sizes and seasons along the tables. Most of it drew minimum interest but there were a few printed dresses that were so vintage, they were kind of cute.
I had my head down for most of the time, concentrating as I rearranged the clothes and folded them up neatly so it would provide more room on the table, that I hardly realised another box come in.
“Hi, yeah, these are some more donations. But this looks like an extremely feminine pile… Great. Could you please direct me to the men’s section?”
I looked up to see Caine. He looked kind of flustered, the wind blowing his hair into a messy tuff. His face looked pale, his cheeks tinted pink from the cold and his eyes, once they caught mine, looked afraid. Like I had just pulled out a gun from my skirt and demanded him to hand over his tatter tots.
“Hey,” I whispered. It wasn’t meant to come out so soft and weak, but I couldn’t help it.
“Nora,” he said, looking around frantically. “Uh, what are you doing here?”
“Community service,” I answered. “You bringing in donations?”
“Yeah,” he answered, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Just some old stuff I grew out of.”
I placed my hand in the box and pulled out a Thomas the Tank Engine T-shirt. “Yeah,” I agreed. “You probably outgrew this a long time ago.”
He cracked a smile, but it vanished just as quickly as it appeared.
“How’s Ryder?” I couldn’t help but ask.
His face fell and he suddenly looked even more uncomfortable. I realised I should have asked how he was first, before bringing up his best friend and instantly I regretted the words that had spilled from my mouth.